Leading fossil fuel export
Overall, the value of coal exports were down by an average -43.8% for all exporting countries since 2012 when coal shipments were valued at $131.6 billion. Year over year, the value of global coal exports dipped -7.1% from 2015 to 2016.
Among continents, Oceania countries (virtually all from Australia) accounted for the highest dollar worth of exported coal during 2016 with shipments valued at $28.3 billion or 38.3% of the global total. In second place were Asian exporters at 22.6% while 17.3% of worldwide coal shipments originated from Europe.
Smaller percentages came from North America (10.5%), Latin America excluding Mexico but also including the Caribbean (6%) and Africa (5.3%).
The 4-digit Harmonized Tariff System code prefix is 2701 for coal including briquettes, ovoids and similar solid fuels manufactured from coal.
Coal Exports by Country
Countries
Below are the 15 countries that exported the highest dollar value worth of coal during 2016:
- Australia: US$28.3 billion (38.3% of global coal exports)
- Indonesia: $12.9 billion (17.4%)
- Russia: $8.9 billion (12%)
- United States: $4.4 billion (6%)
- Colombia: $4.4 billion (5.9%)
- South Africa: $3.9 billion (5.2%)
- Canada: $3.4 billion (4.5%)
- Netherlands: $2.3 billion (3.2%)
- North Korea: $1.2 billion (1.6%)
- Mongolia: $992.6 million (1.3%)
- China: $698 million (0.94%)
- Poland: $659.1 million (0.89%)
- Philippines: $319.6 million (0.43%)
- Kazakhstan: $302 million (0.41%)
- Czech Republic: $289.9 million (0.39%)
The listed 15 countries shipped 98.6% of all coal exports in 2016 by value.
Among the above countries, only the Philippines increased the value of its exported coal since 2012 via a formidable 94.6% uptick.
Those countries that posted declines in their exported coal sales were led by: United States (down -70.2%), Kazakhstan (down -68.8%), Czech Republic (down -64.9%) and China (down -56%).
Advantages
The following countries posted the highest positive net exports for coal during 2016. Investopedia defines net exports as the value of a country’s total exports minus the value of its total imports. Thus, the statistics below present the surplus between the value of each country’s exported coal and its import purchases for that same commodity.
- Australia: US$28.3 billion (net export surplus down -35.3% since 2012)
- Indonesia: $12.6 billion (down -48.2%)
- Russia: $8.6 billion (down -28.9%)
- Colombia: $4.4 billion (down -39.8%)
- United States: $3.7 billion (down -73.2%)
- South Africa: $3.7 billion (down -44.9%)
- Canada: $2.9 billion (down -46.3%)
- North Korea: $1.1 billion (down -5.7%)
- Mongolia: $992.6 million (down -47.2%)
- Kazakhstan: $274.3 million (down -70.8%)
- Czech Republic: $60.6 million (down -88%)
- Afghanistan: $59.4 million (up 507%)
- Venezuela: $22.1 million (reversing a -$190.9 million deficit)
- Poland: $17.2 million (reversing a -$264.9 million deficit)
- Swaziland: $10.3 million (up 77.2%)
Australia has the highest surplus in the international trade of coal. In turn, this positive cashflow confirms strong Australian competitive advantages for this specific product category.
Opportunities
The following countries posted the highest negative net exports for coal during 2016. Investopedia defines net exports as the value of a country’s total exports minus the value of its total imports. Thus, the statistics below present the deficit between the value of each country’s imported coal purchases and its exports for that same commodity.
- Japan: -US$15.2 billion (net export deficit down -47.7% since 2012)
- India: -$12.7 billion (down -15.8%)
- China: -$10.8 billion (down -54.4%)
- South Korea: -$9.2 billion (down -42%)
- Taiwan: -$4.5 billion (down -43.4%)
- Germany: -$3.8 billion (down -36.1%)
- Turkey: -$2.6 billion (up 131%)
- Brazil: -$1.8 billion (down -41.6%)
- Netherlands: -$1.6 billion (up 18.9%)
- Malaysia: -$1.4 billion (down -33.7%)
- Italy: -$1.3 billion (down -63.7%)
- France: -$1.2 billion (down -59.4%)
- Thailand: -$1.2 billion (down -20%)
- Ukraine: -$962 million (down -52.6%)
- Spain: -$883.3 million (down -59.9%)
Japan incurred the highest deficit in the international trade of coal. In turn, this negative cashflow highlights Japan’s competitive disadvantages for this specific product category but also signals opportunities for coal-supplying countries that help satisfy the powerful demand.
Companies
Coal Exporting Companies
Below is a sampling of the biggest mining conglomerates engaged in the international trade of coal. Shown within parenthesis is the city where the headquarters is located plus the home country for each global business.
- BHP Billiton Limited (Melbourne, Australia)
- Rio Tinto Ltd (Melbourne, Australia)
- BHP Billiton Limited (Melbourne, Australia)
- China Shenhua Energy (Dongcheng, China)
- Coal India (Kolkata, India)
- China Coal Energy (Chaoyang, China)
- Shaanxi Coal (Xian, China)
- Yanzhou Coal (Zoucheng, China)
Searchable List of All Coal Exporting Countries
You can change the presentation order by clicking the triangle icon at the top of any of the columns below.
| Rank | Exporter | 2016 Coal Exports | % World Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Australia | US$28.3 billion | 38.3% |
| 2. | Indonesia | $12.9 billion | 17.4% |
| 3. | Russia | $8.9 billion | 12% |
| 4. | United States | $4.4 billion | 6.0% |
| 5. | Colombia | $4.4 billion | 5.9% |
| 6. | South Africa | $3.9 billion | 5.2% |
| 7. | Canada | $3.4 billion | 4.5% |
| 8. | Netherlands | $2.3 billion | 3.2% |
| 9. | North Korea | $1.2 billion | 1.6% |
| 10. | Mongolia | $992.6 million | 1.3% |
| 11. | China | $698 million | 0.9% |
| 12. | Poland | $659.1 million | 0.9% |
| 13. | Philippines | $319.6 million | 0.4% |
| 14. | Kazakhstan | $302 million | 0.4% |
| 15. | Czech Republic | $289.9 million | 0.4% |
| 16. | Belgium | $195.7 million | 0.3% |
| 17. | Ukraine | $149.2 million | 0.2% |
| 18. | Vietnam | $145.6 million | 0.2% |
| 19. | United Kingdom | $81.4 million | 0.1% |
| 20. | Afghanistan | $59.4 million | 0.1% |
| 21. | Spain | $51.8 million | 0.1% |
| 22. | India | $45.8 million | 0.1% |
| 23. | Germany | $45.2 million | 0.1% |
| 24. | Egypt | $31 million | 0.04% |
| 25. | Venezuela | $25.7 million | 0.03% |
| 26. | Chile | $19.7 million | 0.03% |
| 27. | France | $17.8 million | 0.02% |
| 28. | Ireland | $17.1 million | 0.02% |
| 29. | Malaysia | $15.9 million | 0.02% |
| 30. | Swaziland | $15.4 million | 0.02% |
| 31. | Italy | $14.6 million | 0.02% |
| 32. | Iran | $12.8 million | 0.02% |
| 33. | Peru | $10.9 million | 0.01% |
| 34. | Botswana | $7.3 million | 0.01% |
| 35. | Croatia | $7 million | 0.01% |
| 36. | Mozambique | $6.3 million | 0.01% |
| 37. | Thailand | $5.4 million | 0.01% |
| 38. | Kyrgyzstan | $5.4 million | 0.01% |
| 39. | Turkey | $4.4 million | 0.01% |
| 40. | United Arab Emirates | $3.7 million | 0.01% |
| 41. | Lithuania | $3.5 million | 0.005% |
| 42. | Bulgaria | $3.1 million | 0.004% |
| 43. | Belarus | $2.2 million | 0.003% |
| 44. | Denmark | $2.2 million | 0.003% |
| 45. | US Minor Outlying Is | $2.1 million | 0.003% |
| 46. | Slovakia | $2 million | 0.003% |
| 47. | Tanzania | $1.8 million | 0.002% |
| 48. | Greece | $1.7 million | 0.002% |
| 49. | Myanmar (Burma) | $1.5 million | 0.002% |
| 50. | Japan | $1 million | 0.001% |
| 51. | Latvia | $968,000 | 0.001% |
| 52. | Mexico | $784,000 | 0.001% |
| 53. | Slovenia | $743,000 | 0.001% |
| 54. | Cambodia | $714,000 | 0.001% |
| 55. | Laos | $705,000 | 0.001% |
| 56. | Taiwan | $566,000 | 0.001% |
| 57. | Portugal | $562,000 | 0.001% |
| 58. | Singapore | $351,000 | 0.0005% |
| 59. | Romania | $332,000 | 0.0004% |
| 60. | Serbia | $289,000 | 0.0004% |
| 61. | Namibia | $234,000 | 0.0003% |
| 62. | Saudi Arabia | $227,000 | 0.0003% |
| 63. | Argentina | $212,000 | 0.0003% |
| 64. | Macao | $200,000 | 0.0003% |
| 65. | South Korea | $187,000 | 0.0003% |
| 66. | Brazil | $180,000 | 0.0002% |
| 67. | Macedonia | $169,000 | 0.0002% |
| 68. | Malawi | $133,000 | 0.0002% |
| 69. | Georgia | $127,000 | 0.0002% |
| 70. | Cuba | $95,000 | 0.0001% |
| 71. | Lebanon | $53,000 | 0.0001% |
| 72. | Israel | $30,000 | 0.00004% |
| 73. | Bahrain | $30,000 | 0.00004% |
| 74. | Tunisia | $27,000 | 0.00004% |
| 75. | Jordan | $25,000 | 0.00003% |
| 76. | Ghana | $20,000 | 0.00003% |
| 77. | Estonia | $19,000 | 0.00003% |
| 78. | Pakistan | $19,000 | 0.00003% |
| 79. | Kuwait | $16,000 | 0.00002% |
| 80. | New Zealand | $14,000 | 0.00002% |
| 81. | Rwanda | $13,000 | 0.00002% |
| 82. | Hungary | $13,000 | 0.00002% |
| 83. | Bosnia/Herzegovina | $12,000 | 0.00002% |
| 84. | Switzerland | $12,000 | 0.00002% |
| 85. | Sweden | $11,000 | 0.00001% |
| 86. | Samoa | $10,000 | 0.00001% |
| 87. | Finland | $8,000 | 0.00001% |
| 88. | Austria | $6,000 | 0.00001% |
| 89. | Mauritius | $5,000 | 0.00001% |
| 90. | Luxembourg | $4,000 | 0.00001% |
| 91. | Côte d'Ivoire | $4,000 | 0.00001% |
| 92. | Montenegro | $3,000 | 0.000004% |
| 93. | Panama | $2,000 | 0.000003% |
| 94. | Trinidad/Tobago | $2,000 | 0.000003% |
| 95. | Jamaica | $2,000 | 0.000003% |
| 96. | St Vincent/Grenadines | $1,000 | 0.000001% |
See also Crude Oil Exports by Country and Petroleum Gas Exports by Country
Research Sources:
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on August 8, 2017
The World Factbook, Field Listing: Exports – Commodities, Central Intelligence Agency. Accessed on August 8, 2017
Trade Map, International Trade Centre. Accessed on August 8, 2017
Mining.com, Top 50 biggest mining companies (by overall market capitalization at April 2017). Accessed on August 8, 2017
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